


What the Heart Wants

by twipen



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Being Supportive, F/M, Nothing explicit, being in love, first krem/cass fic on ao3 do I get hipster status on this ship?, mentions of intimacy, telling Sera to fuck off
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-14
Updated: 2015-01-14
Packaged: 2018-03-07 12:11:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3173416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twipen/pseuds/twipen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She never thought this is where she would end up in her life. Tucked into the crook of his hips, strong arms around her as he slept, touching from thigh to shoulder. She should have been asleep too, but she couldn't find rest. On a normal night, she would find a candle and read until she felt sleep coming easily, but this night was different. She was comfortable, warm, and horribly satisfied, and he was peaceful, sleeping quite contently, warm breath ruffling her hair. She didn't want to disturb him, and she didn't want to leave his embrace. So she lay there until sleep would claim her again. </p><p>Maker, but she loved him. If only he would believe her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What the Heart Wants

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired a bit by this post: pancakesandplaid.tumblr.com/post/106565576500

"He was flirting with you. _Again_." Cremisius "Krem" Aclassi threw his arm over the back of the chair up in the loft of the smithy. His posture was casual, but his expression was tense. The chair was turned so he could look out the window, instead of at her.

"He was _not_ ," Cassandra Allegra Portia Calogera Filomena Pentaghast replied. She sat across the table, writing a report for Cullen about their most recent mission. She glanced up at him; he was still staring out the window. She dropped the conversation in favor of her report, but he was not finished.

"Yes, he was," Krem insisted, only now turning from the window to look at her. "I can't say anything because he's the _Inquisitor_ ; he hired us. But you could. And you haven't." He frowned and stared out the window again. She scowled down at her report.

"Do you think me blind?" She replied, looking up from her report at the back of his head. "I have not said anything because he is _not flirting with me_."

"If _this_ is was you call seeing..." Krem quipped, making a casual sweeping hand gesture, and still not looking at her.

"What more do you want from me?" She asked, because it was obvious now that he wanted _something_. She set her quill down; her report was not getting finished, she knew, not until this was resolved.

"I _want_ you to tell him you're taken—with someone, _not available—_ so he stops with those horrid pick-up lines." He ran a hand through his hair. It needed trimming again. "You haven't told anyone have you? That we're together?"

"It's no one elses' business," she replied, but she felt guilt churn in her gut. It was true, she had not told anyone of her relationship with Krem--not Bull, not Lelianna, not even Josephine. Krem, she knew, had told Bull. She knew because he gave her looks; sometimes teasing, but sometimes sad. She figured Bull would spread it around, but he had not, to her surprise. And she did not _want_ to spread it around. She knew what she would get from that.

"It's other peoples' business if the Inquisitor is _flirting with you_." He was getting a little angry. She was so oblivious, and so _stubborn_. Why couldn't she just tell him she wasn't interested?

"And what if you're wrong," she challenged, "would you have me embarrass myself with such a remark?"

"I'm not wrong," he mumbled, moving from angry to sad in such short words. "You said he called you _delightful_. But if you wish to encourage his affections, then by all means. As it seems to be a better alternative than admitting to a relationship." _With me_. He didn't say it, but they both knew it was implied.

"That's not what I meant," she tried to insist, but he was already up from the chair and heading out. She let him go, figuring he needed time to cool off, as did she.

Plus she had a report to do.

 

* * *

 

He was in the tavern when she went to find him, later that night when he still hadn't returned, and she began wondering if he would at all. He was at the bar, a cute blonde hanging on his every word, and Cassandra could hardly bring herself to be surprised. He didn't seem the sort for petty revenge or infidelity, so she wondered what he might be up to. She approached Bull instead.

"I would ask how he is, but judging by your face..." She sat down in a chair next to Bull, he wasn't too happy to see her, that much was clear, or maybe he was. Or maybe he was just generally unhappy.

"What did you _say_ to him, Seeker?" Bull asked, unaccusing, curious. Krem was one of his, but Cassandra was a good friend; he knew he couldn't play sides. She sighed and settled back in her chair, watching her Tevinter lover enthrall a beauty with a story that apparently required a lot of hand motions.

"It was a misunderstanding," was all she had planned to say initially, but if there was anyone she could actually talk to about this, it would be Bull. "He believes I am... ashamed of our relationship, I believe." Bull gave her a sideways glance.

"Are you?"

"No, of course not," she said, giving Bull a scowl despite knowing he was only trying to help. "I am generally a private person... and this... well, I know what people will say if I tell them."

"And what is that exactly?"

"I'm sure you can imagine."

He could. There were inconsistencies in the love Cassandra and Krem shared, he knew, but couldn't really understand, never being one particularly bothered by such things.

"Why does that bother you so much?" He asked, genuinely curious. The Seeker was a mystery, full of confusions and inconsistencies, and he would be lying if he said he didn't find her interesting. Plus she was sleeping with one of his men; the more he knew, the more he could bother Krem about it.

"I am not worried for me," she replied simply, and then Bull understood.

"He can take it, Seeker," he said eventually, watching Krem at the bar rather than the Seeker. "He's strong and he knows who he is. As long as you stand by him in that, he can take it." Cassandra nodded at him, but he didn't see it, because Krem has spotted her with the Chief, and Bull was waving him over.

"Take him home, Seeker," Bull said when Krem wobbled close enough. "He's drunk and shaming the chargers with how poorly he holds his ale."

"'m fine, Chief," he insisted, leaning against the wooden beam for support. There was some sort of silent plea in his eyes, but Bull ignored it. He needed this. They both did.

"Fine my ass," he retorted, "Seeker, _please_ get him out of here."

Krem looked like he was going to argue, opened his mouth and everything, but Cassandra stood and looped her arm through his and he fell slient.

"Do not trip on the way back, love," she said, and Bull thought the "love" was going to make him vomit, but Krem looked like he might catch flame. "I will hold no sympathy for you."

Bull couldn't stop laughing, even after they had left.

 

* * *

 

Halamshiral was a beautiful place, and she hated it. If only she could appreciate the scene from afar, or when there were none of these insufferable nobles here. Bull, she knew, felt the same, but he could appreciate the food. Krem on the other hand, looked like he might kill someone. He was the only thing making this ball tolerable.

"He only had me accompany him so I would have to wear this shitty outfit, too," Krem complained, and Cassandra chuckled lightly. "I don't think even _Sera_ could make this look more annoying."

"I think it looks good on you," she commented, and it did. He looked dashing and regal, and Cassandra would be damned if he knew that she loved that look as much as she did.

"If this the part where you tack on 'but you would look better out of it', its not really saying much as a compliment. I think anything would look better than this. And we even all _match_."

She laughed and leaned in, adjusting his sash.

"You can make anything look good, love." And she meant it. Because _he_ looked good, and everything looked good on him, even her bed sheets.

"Flattery now, is it?" he teased, elbows resting on the bannister as he leaned closer, breath ghosting over her cheek.

"You say that as if it did not work," she whispered with a half-smile. He smiled back, then moved away.

"We probably shouldn't have a go in the middle of this fancy Orlesian party," he said, smirking. Cassandra flushed, but chuckled.

"It would make it more interesting, at least."

Krem was laughing when the Inquisitor approached the two of them and relayed what he had found out.

"We'll be here when you're ready to move out, Inquisitor," Cassandra said, all business as always.

"Then I supposed I can't interest you in a dance?" He smiled, as suave as ever. And Krem's good mood was shot.

"Wha-- now?" She asked, surprised by the sudden request. "We have _work_ to do, Inquisitor, and... I am already seeing someone."

Krem nearly startled himself over the bannister at that one.

"Oh?" The Inquisitor said, clearly not expecting this. "Who's the lucky guy, then?" Krem could almost choke on how much he wanted to step in with an arm around her waist and declare that is was him who was so lucky. But he would not, not if Cassandra didn't--

"Krem is," she said bluntly, motioning over to where the man in question looked more like a startled cat than anything. The Inquisitor clapped him on the back.

"Well done!" He laughed, looking between the two of them, before stepping away. "I apologize for any interruption."

She waved him off with a response Krem didn't quite catch, he was too completely dumbfounded.

"You didn't have to do that," he said eventually, moving closer to her.

"Yes, I did," she replied. "You were right, he was flirting. I needed to set everything straight." And then a small grin, "and show you I love you as much as you deserve."

And he kissed her, right in the middle of that fancy Orlesian party, and later, when no one, or everyone, was looking, they shared their own dance, out on the balcony of the Winter Palace.

 

* * *

 

She knew it would happen. The word of her relationship with Krem spread like cold honey through the Inquisitor's inner circle, and most likely, all of Skyhold. It was sometime after that that it happened, and Cassandra really shouldn't have been surprised that it was Sera, of all people.

It was at a "nice family dinner" as Varric jokingly called them, times when all of them were not too busy to sit down to a proper meal, nearly everyone was there, except perhaps Solas, but it was understandable. The mage liked his solitude.

Krem sat next to her, and would lean over to give a comment every now and then. No one seemed to mind, but in a silence that ran just a bit too long, it came.

"I thought you only liked the dangly bits," Sera said. Blackwall choked on his ale, and Varric only barely held back a chuckle. But Cassandra was confused. "Ya'know, _men_ , and what not. You swingin' both ways now or what?" Ah, of course. There it was. She didn't look to see how Krem reacted, it felt cheaper somehow to do that. She didn't know if he minded the insensitivity with which Sera blundered about the topic, or if he was so used to it that it didn't bother him. But she did know what her response was.

"I do like men," she replied simply, before returning to her meal. That was it. There was nothing fancy about it, no great personal realization. Krem was a man, and he may not have the parts that most men did, but Cassandra found she didn't care; she loved him.

Krem didn't say anything, didn't react at all as far as she could tell, and she was fine with that. Her statement didn't need fanfare, didn't need elaboration, and she wasn't too keen on giving either. Sera looked like she wanted to argue, but Bull elbowed her and, Cassandra could only assume, gave a warning look. Sera grumbled but let it drop, and Cassandra smiled; Bull took care of his own, after all.

The conversation moved on to something else, Varric told an impossible story about the Champion, Cullen talked with Vivenne about his time at the Circle in Kirkwall, Sera and Bull had a drinking contest, and Krem held her hand under the table for the rest of the night.

 

* * *

 

"I love you," he said, curled next to her under the sheets in the bed of the spare room the Inquisitor delegated to her, so she would not have to camp in the smithy (and in truth, she believed the blacksmith had issued a complaint about her and Krem's nighttime activities). He slid his arm under her head and draped the other around her waist. She moved closer; Skyhold was cold at night, but the press of skin was warm. Even if the feel was not quite what she was used to, she felt a curl of intimacy knot in her stomach as she thumbed at the dip where the firm muscles of his side curved into his hip.

"I know," she said, a small smile on her lips as he pressed his own to her shoulder, then along her neck. "I love you t— _oh_." She couldn't help the sigh that came with a kiss just below her ear followed by a gentle nip accompanied by his rough hands along the back of her thighs. Oh, he was _cheating_.

"This is hardly playing fai— _ah!_ " His hands found the right spot, sensitive and sending tingles through her whole body. He smirked against her neck, and she was determined to even the field. She flipped him to his back, pinning him down, and baring both of them to the biting chill. She was already beginning to show the effects of that.

"You know," she said, leaning over him, putting her weight on his elbows to prevent retaliation. "This is why we were shuffled from the smithy."

"Can't say that I mind too much," Krem grinned, cheeky, and definitely up to something. "This one is much more comfortable, and we can be so much louder." He lifted her up—still so much stronger than her, too strong for her to really restrain—and tossed her on her back. She only bounced for a moment, before he was on her with hands and mouth. He broke away to give her a seductive grin.

"We might as well make use of it."

And they did.


End file.
